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Patented July 20, 1954 DACRON FILLER Edward R. Frederick, Pittsburgh, Pa.. assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army No Drawing.

Application August 21, 1952,

Serial No. 305,683

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in fillers for sleeping bags, comforters, pillows, cushions, padded or cold weather clothing, and like articles.

The general object is to provide a filler whose filling power will equal or exceed that of standard waterfowl down-feather mixtures, but which will be far less expensive and capable of being produced in very much greater volume because of the availability of the raw materials, hence may serve as an excellent substitute for such standard mixtures.

In explanation of the term filling power, reference may be made to the report entitled A Proposed Method for Measuring the Filling Power of Down and Feathers by Henry A. Sinski, publication No. TD 103037, TheOffice of Technical Services, U. S. Department of Commerce, and to the article by N. B. Edelman in Textile Research Journal, vol. 17, p. 199 (1947) entitled Investigation of methods for determining the filling power of feathers.

Another object is to provide a filler which is of low density with a high bulk-to-weight ratio. Another object is to provide a filler having exceptional softness and drape properties, so that the article employing the filler is comfortable to the user. Another object is to provide a filler which may be manufactured by automatic'machinery. A further object is to provide a filler which may withstand the somewhat destructive effects of washing or dry cleaning. A still further object is to provide a filler which will withstand temperatures as high as 120 F. and as low as 65 F. without significant deterioration. Other objects will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

The invention involves a mixture of Dacron (polyethylene terephthalate) filaments, preferably crimped filaments, with processed land fowl feather products, as hereinafter defined, in the proportions of approximately 50% by weight of Dacron filament and approximately 50% by weight of feather products. The Dacron filaments are preferably in staple lengths and may range between 1.5 and 30 denier, or may be even coarser. V

The conventional waterfowl down and feather mixture has a high thickness to weight ratio and high heat insulating value and displays an exceptional drape property, so that it is well suited for use as a filler, but it is not available in the United States in sufficient quantity to meet military and civilian requirements. The only known material resembling waterfowl feathers that is obtainable in large quantities is chicken feathers, which, however, are straight vaned with their barbs and barbules invariably oriented in one plane; as a result, and also because of their natural oil and wax, chicken feathers pack rather tightly so that their filling power is low. Chicken feathers mostly come on the market in bales labeled curled chicken feathers; actually they are washed and crushed. The crushing breaks the quills and shafts of many of the feathers and the washing removes most of the dirt and odor, resulting in a mass of soft feathers, feather-fragments and fibers well suited to serve as one of the materials used in making the batting of the invention. Crushed chicken feathers have little or no tendency to develop an electrostatic charge, while straight chicken feathers usually have a low charge, seemingly of the di-pole type.

It has been discovered that Dacron filament has or may have a high electrostatic charge and that this charge is opposite in polarity to the charge which may be carried by most land fowl feather products when processed in certain ways including those described below. The result is that Dacron and such feather products are strongly attracted to each other and hence when mixed readily form a loose coherent resilient batting which if handled carefully will not lose more than a negligible quantity of the normally freely flying feathers and feather fibers. The charged mixture has a high filling power, high thermal insulating power, a good drape, extreme softness, and is capable of being fiuffed by pounding or agitation, just like waterfowl down or feathers. This flufling is partly the result of the electrostatic charges previously mentioned.

Dacron of type 5400 now on the market, when mixed with commercial curled (crushed) chicken feathers, 50% of each by weight, yielded a product having a filling power of almost 5.5 cm., but a mixture of Dacron type VMB-li and crushed chicken feathers (also 50-50) produced batts whose filling power varied between 7.2 and 9.7 cm, the filling power reading varying with the method used in opening or picking the feathers.

The following table is compiled from measurements made in the laboratory of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Pittsburgh, Pa., using a Sinski filling power apparatus.

' For comparison, ordinary untreated but graded chicken feathers have a filling power of about 1.9 to 2.0, crushed and washed chicken feathers have a filling power of about 2.9 to 3.1, feather fibers have a filling power of about 3.3, while the standard waterfowl down-feather mixture used by the U. S. Army has a filling power of about 5.7.

The following table gives some properties of several grades of Dacron, the values being supplied by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

Types VMB-ll and VM-123 are quite similar, but Vivi-123 is made with a cruciform cross section, while VMB-ll has a round section. Apparently as a result of inter-fiber friction arising from its unusual cross section, the VM-123 was not as satisfactory in bulk filling operation as VMB-l 1. The modulus of Table II is significant since it is a measure of relative stiffness and indicates the high bulk properties of VlVEB-ll. The compliance ratio is used by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. as a measure of the degree of bending of the stress-strain curve of different materials. A curve concave upwardly, such as that for nylon, would yield a negative compliance ratio. A straight line graph would have zero compliance ratio, while a curve concave downwardly (wool, Dacron) gives a positive compliance ratio, indicating greater stiffness on stretching, with relatively high resiliency.

Instead of commercial crushed chicken feathers, treated crushed chicken feathers may be added to Dacron, preferably type 5400. Dacron type 5400 has filling power values (normal loading, non-fluffed) of over '7 cm. and filling power of 3.5 cm. after being compressed under 0.2 p. s. i. This filling power value compares favorably with that of 2.6 cm. recorded for the standard 40-60 waterfowl down-feather mixture, under compression of 0.2 p. s. i. Treatment of the crushed chicken feathers may follow some of the procedures described below, which are disclosed in my pending application Serial No. 276,985, filed March 1'7, 1952.

It has been found that if washed feathers or feather fibers are subjected to a single pass dry cleaning, using a solvent such as C014, CsHs, C2H5OH or standard perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene) dry cleaning solution, their filling power will be increased as much as 30 to 35%, which is indeed surprising. The first extraction or pass reduces the oily and waxy content of the feathers to about 0.6% by weight; a second extraction may reduce this content to about 0.2%, yet the filling power after the second extraction is materially lessened; therefore, a second extraction is usually avoided. This fact suggests that mild solvent washing removes the more soluble oils while more complete extraction removes additionally at least part of=the less soluble hard natural wax. The removal of the oily ingredient by a single extraction reduces the weight of the final feather product by about 2%, and removes an odoriferous component which makes chicken feathers and even crushed chicken feathers unpleasant. Betters results are always obtained by extracting the oil after washing the feathers.

As a further step, the washed and solventtreated feathers mixed with Dacron are sprayed with a solution or water dispersion of a wax, a resin or an elastomer, and then tumbled and dried by the apparatus disclosed in application Serial N0. 313,014, filed October 3, 1952, by Michael C. Jaskowski and myself; or the mixture is immersed in a bath of a wax, a resin or an elastomer, in the form of a solution or dispersion, and partially dried by centrifugal extraction, then the mixture is picked mechanically and finally dried and fluifed by a machine such as the one disclosed in the Frederick, Jaskowski and Haller application Serial No. 362,460, filed June 18, 1953. The feather product from either apparatus will be highly charged electrostatically, and as stated above, the charge is opposite to the high charge which the Dacron filaments will take. The Dacron filaments are not stiffened by a resinous film, in this respect also acting 0ppositely to the feather product. The final product shows a filling power of 7 to 10 cm., the latter figure approaching the best European goose down, which is the finest commercial down presently available in any quantity.

In the foregoing, reference has been made to the mixing of Dacron with a feather product. This mixing may be accomplished very easily by blowing the Dacron into the drying and fluffing chamber of the machine shown in the aforesaid Frederick, Jaskowski and Haller application Ser. No. 362,460 at the same time the picked feathers are blown therein; or if preferred, the highly charged feather product of said machine, as it is withdrawn from the chamber by vacuum suction, may be mixed with Dacron filaments; or the Dacron may be fed simultaneously with the damp treated feather product into the picker mechanism shown in said Frederick, Jaskowski and Haller application ;Ser. No. 362,460 and the mixture blown into said drying and fiuffing chamber for subsequent withdrawal by suction. Still another way of mixing would be to dump the proper weight of Dacron filaments with the damp treated feather product into the feather treating rotary cage of said Frederick and Jaskowski application Ser. No. 313,014, whereupon the initially separate filaments and feather prodnot by tumbling and agitation with concomitant drying will become thoroughly mixed, and as the drying is completed, will be highly charged as already explained. Other ways of mixing including carding, garnetting, etc., will occur to those skilled in the art of handling feathers and fibers.

In the subjoined claims for convenience I use the expression feather product to denote chicken, fractionated turkey and other land fowl feathers whether straight or crushed, also feather fibers and stripped feathers, also mixtures of land fowl feathers, feather fibers, crushed feathers and stripped feathers, any or all of which may be treated as described above and in any of the identified applications. Stripped feathers are feathers treated mechanically to strip the barbs from their quills to produce aggregates of barbs attached to thin films peeled from the quills. Waterfowl feathers and down are disclaimed.

What I claim is:

l. A heat insulating filler or batt consisting of electrostatically charged polyethylene terephthalate filaments of staple length, and an oppositely charged feather product, said ingreclients being intermixed substantially uniformly and being in approximately equal proportions by weight.

2. A heat insulating filler or batt consisting of polyethylene terephthalate filaments of staple length and of 1.5 to 30 denier, said filaments being approximately 50% by weight of the filler, and a feather product intimately mixed with said filaments and also approximately 50% by weight of the filler.

3. A batt or filler composed of polyethylene terephthalate filaments in staple lengths and highly charged electrostatically, and a land fowl feather product oppositely charged and cohering 15 to and entangled with the filaments and forming approximately 50% by weight of the batt or filler.

4. A batt or filler composed of polyethylene terephthalate filaments in staple lengths and of 1.5 to 30 denier, and crushed washed chicken feathers treated to become highly charged electrostatically, the polyethylene terephthalate filaments also being highly charged electrostatically but oppositely to the charge on the treated chicken feathers, the filaments and feathers being in substantially equal proportions by 10 weight.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

1. A HEAT INSULATING FILLER OR BATT CONSISTING OF ELECTROSTATICALLY CHARGED POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE FILAMENTS OF STAPLE LENGTH, AND AN OPPOSITELY CHARGED FEATHER PRODUCT, SAID INGREDIENTS BEING INTERMIXED SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY AND BEING IN APPROXIMATELY EQUAL PROPORTIONS BY WEIGHT. 